What was I doing a week ago today?
The answer, of course is
BLITZ IX
I will say right off the bat that this was one of the most successful Blitzes I can remember. I arrived at the Bartell on Friday morning, and was given a script titled "Not Exactly Martha Stewart" by Rick Stemm. I was not familiar with Rick's work, as I had to miss last year's Blitz because of National Eichenlaub Day.
I was handed a script and director's instructions which, in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS told me to draft Anna Marquardt for the role of "Kali Darkmoon Kalypsoleaf." Lucky me, I drew the Ace, so I picked Anna to a chorus of "Fuck you"'s and groans. The play was MESSY. It was about a failed art designer that found her muse through the practical use of blood splatter and corpses. One actor, the incredibly versitile Matt Schraeder (who I had worked with in the Blitz Play "Clown Spikes") played 5 different roles, complete with sppedy costume changes. The cast was made complete with Ryan O'Connor, who was a little young, but put on this very cheesy Spaniard accent (which he was directed to lose when he got excited) for the role of "Armand Spitz," and he really worked out great.
As a director, I am not afraid of asking for help in an area that I am unfamiliar with. The main challenge of this play was to create the cartoony, gross-out violence without actually sickening anyone. Blocking and staging both went well, especially when Matt got stuffed head-and-shoulders into the mini-fridge. Everyone was such a great sport about the physicality of the show. Also, we went fourth, to allow some clean-up time. Anna and Matt were both very skilled in stage combat, but my biggest concern was the BLOOD.
Enter Doug Holtz. Apparently, Rick had discussed with rob_matsushita and Doug his needs for this show. A plan was already in place to make fake blood out of Caro Syrup and cherry juice, and a red sweater was sacrificed (but NOT soaked in blood) to make some guts and other assorted entrails. Unfortunately, we were only able to rehearse with the fake blood during the actual show, but again my actors were really good sports about it.
The other concern was to allow Matt the opportunity to change into his costume. He had to leave as (the recently deceased) Mr. Mortis and come back 3 lines later as Mr. Graves. The script called for a blood-covered make-out scene with Armand and Kali, so we added a couple just to give Matt an extra 15-30 seconds or so.
There are always a bunch of things that I never expect to hear coming out of my mouth. I'll give you context if you really want it.
(to Anna): "I want you to give him two or three extra pushes into the mini-fridge with your hips. I want it to look like reverse butt-sex."
(to Ryan): "Move your arms, caress her, grab hold of something, give her a little spanking! Right now, it looks like she's humping a mannequin."
(to Matt): "My GOD! The Art director sounds like HedonismBot. And Special Agent Johnson sounds like Stephen Colbert as Tek Jansen. Keep them."
As a lighting request, I has asked (as an homage to rob_matsushita) that the lights go to red whenever Kali murdered someone in the course of the script. This worked better than I had ever dreamed. The blood squirted in a graceful arc, mostly all over stage right. During the rehearsal, Doug was laughing so hard, he actually fell out of his chair, bum shoulder and all. This was during the dance that Anna was doing with a large sheet of skin. Don't worry; we used Peel 'n' Seal (covered in fake blood for the performance.)
The play went off better than I could have hoped. I'm going to need to track down the video as soon as it comes available.
Next Post: SATURDAY!
BLITZ IX
I will say right off the bat that this was one of the most successful Blitzes I can remember. I arrived at the Bartell on Friday morning, and was given a script titled "Not Exactly Martha Stewart" by Rick Stemm. I was not familiar with Rick's work, as I had to miss last year's Blitz because of National Eichenlaub Day.
I was handed a script and director's instructions which, in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS told me to draft Anna Marquardt for the role of "Kali Darkmoon Kalypsoleaf." Lucky me, I drew the Ace, so I picked Anna to a chorus of "Fuck you"'s and groans. The play was MESSY. It was about a failed art designer that found her muse through the practical use of blood splatter and corpses. One actor, the incredibly versitile Matt Schraeder (who I had worked with in the Blitz Play "Clown Spikes") played 5 different roles, complete with sppedy costume changes. The cast was made complete with Ryan O'Connor, who was a little young, but put on this very cheesy Spaniard accent (which he was directed to lose when he got excited) for the role of "Armand Spitz," and he really worked out great.
As a director, I am not afraid of asking for help in an area that I am unfamiliar with. The main challenge of this play was to create the cartoony, gross-out violence without actually sickening anyone. Blocking and staging both went well, especially when Matt got stuffed head-and-shoulders into the mini-fridge. Everyone was such a great sport about the physicality of the show. Also, we went fourth, to allow some clean-up time. Anna and Matt were both very skilled in stage combat, but my biggest concern was the BLOOD.
Enter Doug Holtz. Apparently, Rick had discussed with rob_matsushita and Doug his needs for this show. A plan was already in place to make fake blood out of Caro Syrup and cherry juice, and a red sweater was sacrificed (but NOT soaked in blood) to make some guts and other assorted entrails. Unfortunately, we were only able to rehearse with the fake blood during the actual show, but again my actors were really good sports about it.
The other concern was to allow Matt the opportunity to change into his costume. He had to leave as (the recently deceased) Mr. Mortis and come back 3 lines later as Mr. Graves. The script called for a blood-covered make-out scene with Armand and Kali, so we added a couple just to give Matt an extra 15-30 seconds or so.
There are always a bunch of things that I never expect to hear coming out of my mouth. I'll give you context if you really want it.
(to Anna): "I want you to give him two or three extra pushes into the mini-fridge with your hips. I want it to look like reverse butt-sex."
(to Ryan): "Move your arms, caress her, grab hold of something, give her a little spanking! Right now, it looks like she's humping a mannequin."
(to Matt): "My GOD! The Art director sounds like HedonismBot. And Special Agent Johnson sounds like Stephen Colbert as Tek Jansen. Keep them."
As a lighting request, I has asked (as an homage to rob_matsushita) that the lights go to red whenever Kali murdered someone in the course of the script. This worked better than I had ever dreamed. The blood squirted in a graceful arc, mostly all over stage right. During the rehearsal, Doug was laughing so hard, he actually fell out of his chair, bum shoulder and all. This was during the dance that Anna was doing with a large sheet of skin. Don't worry; we used Peel 'n' Seal (covered in fake blood for the performance.)
The play went off better than I could have hoped. I'm going to need to track down the video as soon as it comes available.
Next Post: SATURDAY!